Since July there have been violent riots against Eritrea festivals in several countries. A pattern emerges. Now a suspicion falls on Gießen’s green city councilor Klaus-Dieter Grothe: Did he even help the violent criminals with their finances?
A series of violent outbursts against Eritrean festivals stands out in the summer news and demands an explanation. Several western countries in Northern Europe and North America are affected. In Gießen there were numerous injuries at the beginning of July. The Hessian police advised against entering the city center for a Saturday. More than 1,000 police officers from three federal states were unable to prevent street battles from breaking out, but were instead forced into close combat with the aggressors during the Gießen fights between police and festival opponents. More than 25 officers were injured. Injuries of the nastier kind—broken bones and wounds requiring stitches—were not uncommon.
A month later there were very similar scenes in Stockholm, Toronto, Canada, and Seattle. Thousands of kilometers in between, but similar processes – that may make you suspicious. And the “protest” against the festivals always seems well-organized and orchestrated, as in Sweden, where several hundred “demonstrators” skirmished with the police, broke through a police barricade and finally stormed the rented area around a former farm. Cars and tents were set on fire. The historic farmhouse in the suburb of Spånga-Tensta was also vandalized, with windows smashed and parts of the interior destroyed. At least 52 people were injured and 200 arrested.
In Sweden, the police had no patience with the violent criminals
The latter speaks of an efficiency of the police operation that was not achieved in Germany (with many more officers deployed). A Stockholm police spokesman said: “The police are on site to stop these criminal acts. This is about people who have chosen not to follow the orders of the police.” This is tantamount to a war on the security forces.
It was no different in Hesse. And yet hardly any violent criminals were arrested there, even ringleaders like the notorious “General John Black”, living in the Netherlands, were soon released. Otherwise the excess of violence in Stockholm would probably have been unthinkable. On the other hand, it is surprising that the Swedes also showed so much patience and allowed a day of violence to happen – especially since it had been openly announced on the Internet. Busloads of alleged “Eritrean oppositionists” were brought to Stockholm from various European countries. It was no different in Giessen. However, it is not quite as clear who the festival opponents really are and what moves them.
After the first outbreak of violence in Sweden, the police withdrew permission for the “demonstrations”. The Swedish police were well prepared: If more buses arrived in Sweden, they would be stopped in accordance with the Aliens Act. Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer said: “It is incomprehensible that Sweden is drawn into the internal conflicts in other countries in this way.” The resources of the Swedish police are actually needed for other things. In fact, the gang wars in Stockholm’s suburbs are widespread enough. You probably don’t need imported violent criminals from the Horn of Africa, but they have been living in various EU countries as “refugees” for a long time and can be recruited for various services.
Fighters from Tigray on German streets?
The program of the Stockholm festival did not differ from others of this kind, which are organized worldwide by exiled Eritreans. The oldest – and so far undisturbed – is the festival in Bologna. The national culture should be the focus, traditional food, seminars, concerts, including a youth program and children’s area. The German-Eritrean Society, which is close to the organizer of the Gießen Festival – the Central Council of Eritreans in Germany – speaks of a family and cultural festival. Eritreans are now scattered across the globe, mainly due to the thirty-year war of independence.
Opponents of the festivals complain that representatives of the Eritrean state or embassy are also present and are thus doing propaganda for the government. There is also the uniform accusation that the festivals are used to raise large amounts of donations for the government of Isayas Afewerki, which the organizers repeatedly deny. One of the opponents claimed: “This is not a festival, they teach their children hate speech.” You could say that the man has learned his woke lesson: because hate speech is always found on the other side of the political ditch and is therefore a good killer argument in any argument.
In contrast, festival-goers describe the attackers as terrorists, who are said to have come at least in part from neighboring Ethiopia, more precisely from the border region of Tigray, which is known for its fighting spirit and quest for independence. A bloody two-year war by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) against Ethiopia and ultimately Eritrea only ended in November 2022. In Europe and the world, people now seem to want to continue this conflict, as experts believe they know. According to observers, the culprit is the irredentist Greater Tigray ideology, which the political leadership of the defeated Tigray continues to follow. Some of the Eritrean exile oppositionists seem to want to ally themselves with these fighters – or give in to the alliance for other reasons. Maybe money also plays a role.
And that goes with another point: only last summer did violent resistance against an Eritrean cultural event in Germany stir for the first time. Nothing like this had happened before. At a concert in August 2022, intruders threw stones at Eritrean women and construction workers in the Gießen exhibition halls and some of them were beaten up. On videos from the attacker’s point of view, a relatively aimless crowd of young men ready to fight can be seen who pick up stones and throw them in the direction of the exhibition hall and then arm themselves with poles of some kind (cf. “Brged Nhamedu” calls in this video at 0 : 33 ).
The “dialogue” of the fighters, according to one translation, goes like this. A driver encourages the young people:
“Look here, look here! The attack is in full swing!”
– “Everything, everything! Everything will be smashed!”
– “The attack is sure of victory!”
– “Look at her, look at her! Our heroes!”
Later:
– “We led them (the attackers) across the field here and let them in! We’ve left the police behind us!”
– “And our boys are rolling around here on the field and doing their heroic deeds!”
– “They’re all running off to the rear, even inside (meaning: in the Hessenhallen) everything is being smashed!”
– “Tell Brged Nhamedu, look here, the youth in the slaughter!”
– “Yes, slaughter! That’s real life!”
– “You can’t expect more from life!”
The young thugs are also virtually guaranteed impunity by their driver: “Nothing can happen to you, just hit it!” That time, in August 2022, the Hessian police were taken by surprise by the violence of the attack, even though there were indications of violence .
But they threw them to the wind. The police fell behind and were understaffed. Only afterwards did the authorities become aware that there was something like a “Brigade Nhamedu” that was planning and organizing the attacks. What remained: stone impacts on the exhibition building, a damaged car, but also many physical and mental injuries to the Eritreans who involuntarily became “defenders” in the Hessenhallen. Legally, too, the events have still not been processed.
After the first excess of violence, Grothe spoke of a “victory of democracy”
The organization “Brigade Nhamedu” (in English “Brigade Mother Earth”) with openly violent goals has only existed for a few months, but since its founding it has been well networked with organizations that claim to be the backbone of the Eritrean opposition in Germany and Europe. Together they are pursuing a so-called “twin path” of civil society commitment and violent action – not a completely new strategy in the political struggle. At best, what is new is that conflicts from completely different parts of the world are carried to Germany and elsewhere and fought out here. Of course, this is not entirely unique when you consider the recent “tribal war” between Syrians and Lebanese in the Ruhr area.
Thanks to informants who speak the language, TE was able to report exclusively on this “twin path” between “civil society” and violence, in which the Giessen “Mothers’ Initiative” is almost certainly involved, but also the “Eritrean Bright Future” based in Switzerland, both of which are involved can be considered close allies of the violent brigade. Tsehainesh Kiros, the well-known chairwoman of the “Mothers’ Initiative” in Gießen, expressly did not want to condemn the violence carried out in the summer of 2022, and did not even want to distance himself from it. That already shows what bloody war some here want to import to Germany.
And this is where another actor comes into play: When the Eritrean concert or cultural festival was canceled in advance because of the brutal violence, the green city councilor Klaus-Dieter Grothe, according to pictures a close friend of the Eritrea oppositionists, even spoke of a “victory for Justice and Democracy” – in a Facebook post, which he soon deleted but never retracted. In fact, he stayed true to himself. Grothe himself was also involved in the protest in August 2022, apparently once again contributing a car and giving a speech to the congregation, in which he spoke out strongly against the festival. At the same time, the “brigade” went about their work on the exhibition grounds. So is it wrong to research Greens’ links to the violent group?
Green Mayor: Violent “just like that” came
In any case, Giessen could have been forewarned after the experiences of 2022. But in July 2023, it would be the same actors who tried again to attack the Eritrea Festival, which had been going on without incident for ten years. As before the concert last year, there were now open threats of violence from the Brigade General “John Black” (whose real name is Yohannes Abraha) and other comrades-in-arms. Tsehainesh Kiros, who refused to distance herself from the violence the previous year, announced the new counter-demonstration, which was approved.
When Ordnance Mayor Alexander Wright (also a Green) was subsequently questioned as to how he could have condoned such a reckless approval, he claimed that the organizer of the “counterdemo” – according to TE’s findings a woman, Tsehainesh Kiros – had been “extremely cooperative” and therefore no arguments for a ban provided. Later, however, the same applicant “completely lost control”. The perpetrators of violence came “just like that,” according to Wright with pretense naivety.
In addition, the “Eritrean opposition associations” organized by civil society held a large press conference in the congress hall, which belongs to a 100 percent subsidiary of the city of Giessen. All the allies of the violence sat there together – except for Brigade Nhamedu itself. Rut Bahta from the Mainz club “United4Eritrea” formed the civilized wing. In the middle of the arrangement, Beyene Gerezgiher (Eritrean Bright Future) took a seat, who has quite open contacts with the brigade leader “John Black” aka Yohannes Abraha and also seems to support the armed struggle of the group semi-covertly.
The city of Giessen thus housed the presentable wing of the troublemakers. As a result, Mayor Wright tried to ban the festival shortly before the event, thus avoiding the feared violent “protests”. The green mayor (and mayor candidate) Wright is said to have even successfully – also shortly before the start of the festival – caused the medical service booked by the organizers to withdraw from the contract. This extraordinary intervention can only be described as a stick between the legs. So it can happen to a politically unpopular organizer in Germany by 2023. The Central Council of Eritreans was only able to organize another medical service with difficulty and at higher cost. If the accusation is true, it says bad things about the green mayor of Giessen.
A Giessener Grüner “acts globally”
But even more dubious could be the role played by Klaus-Dieter Grothe, who has been a city councilor for many years and was also the chairman of the Gießen city council. Grothe has a typical “green” profile. According to the Green Party website, Grothe’s motto is: “Think globally, act locally”. He is also involved in refugee aid. He is also a parliamentary group expert on integration and housing issues. Some things fit together exactly the way they are.
On March 22nd, Grothe held a panel discussion for the Green Party on the “threats to refugees in Germany from transnational networks” (subtitle). Rut Bahta (United4Eritrea) participated. Of course, it was specifically about the conflict between Eritreans abroad and supposedly Eritrean “refugees” (who maybe aren’t). In addition to his seat on the city council, Grothe is currently working as a psychiatrist in Athens – after a period on Lesbos – and is probably concerned about the progress of “refugees” on their way to Germany.
Since July, very strange news about this Green politician has been coming from video chats with leading members of the “Brigade Nhamedu”, which were probably organized on TikTok: According to this, Grothe not only maintained close friendships with the German anti-Eritrea alliance – by the way seems to reach all the way to the taz author Marina Mai – but even got his hands dirty with the terror money from the “Brigade Nhamedu”, which is close to Tigray.
TE gained exclusive insight into these internal chats thanks to several whistleblowers. It helped that the Brigade Brothers didn’t even bother to hide their actions. The calls for violence are posted just as openly as later the joy about the “success” of a new attack is celebrated. Arrests and “counter-demonstration bans” like now in Sweden are not a failure. It is only important to create the greatest possible unrest in order to disavow the peaceful part of the European or North American Eritrean community.
Did Grothe manage the Brigade account? Greens do not deny
In the aforementioned chat, the leaders of the German brigade chapter express their frustration with their association’s financial management. Literally, there is talk of an “account in Germany” to which funds were transferred from an account in the USA. The speaker continues: “There are our funds. Which association is the (account) registered to? What connection does the association have to us? This club has not signed any contract with us, this account ultimately belongs to another club and not Brigade Nhamedu. We only ask questions.” The account, it is then said, is managed by a “doctor from the Green Party”.
And here, however, the suspicion is extremely close that this is the psychiatrist from Giessen with a knack for the anti-Eritrea faction in Giessen. The exact status of the account remains unclear, but it appears that Grothe was acting on behalf of an unknown association when he set up (?) and operated an account on which various funds were parked for use in Germany or the EU. The spokesman in the video goes on to say that the account originally belonged to another organization called “Yiakl”, which is also the subject of the brigade brothers’ suspicions: the apparently allied Yiakl could also get access to the money, which was actually used as reward for the rowdy brothers from “mother earth”.
One can still speculate about the identity of the account manager. No name was mentioned. What is clear, however, is that a Green Party politician with a doctorate is involved in the violent operations of an internationally networked terrorist gang. Klaus-Dieter Grothe did not respond to a TE request. The Gießen district association of the Greens answered for him: The Greens in Gießen therefore know nothing about a “Brigade Nhamedu” and manage “nor any accounts for such an organization”. However, that was not the question asked. Because the account is said to have been managed by a “doctor from the Green Party”. A denial looks different.
The “Brigade” also announced the disturbances in Canada
It is a strange coincidence that there is also a politician in Sweden who is accused of having instigated and supported the conflict between the local Eritrea Festival and its opponents for years. It is Åsa Nilsson Söderström from the liberal business party Liberalerna, who is also involved in Ulf Kristersson’s government. In a guest post for Aftonbladet , Nilsson Söderström calls for the end of what she calls the “killer party” in Stockholm.That’s a little less subtle than the framing of the German media. But the arguments are well known: Eritrea is not a democracy, allegedly even one of the worst dictatorships in the world, as the Stockholm Institute for Democracy Research V-Dem claims to have found out. There is talk of 10,000 dissidents, including Swedish citizen Dawit Isak, who is currently believed to be in an Eritrean prison.
On the other hand, author Eyassu Tesfay, who attended the festival, says the festival is “a joyful contribution to Stockholm’s free culture and associations”. She asks Nilsson to first inform himself and then judge.
After the August wave of global violence against Eritrea festivals in Sweden and North America, Bright Future boss Gerezgiher posted the simple message: “Congratulations to our fighting people!” There is also evidence of money payments from “Eritrean Bright Future” to the brigade Nhamedu. Meanwhile, their leader posted that “the work” was by no means done. So there is no time to rest on your laurels.
Shortly after the Stockholm disturbances, “John Black” showed up on Facebook with fellow campaigners in an undamaged part of Stockholm. The brigade leader next targeted the three-day festival in Toronto. “It will not take place” and “Cancel” are written in his posts about the seemingly harmless festival poster. It seems that “Black” has succeeded in this case.
In Toronto, a public park was the site of the festival. The opponents of the festival there gathered there last weekend and again attacked with ice-cold precision. Here, too, tents were set on fire, apparently some of the festival-goers put up a fight. At least nine people were injured. The police warned to avoid the area. Canadian police did not take sides, giving the impression that they were protecting the attackers. Most recently, the city of Toronto even withdrew its approval for the festival.
That is probably the plan of the German Greens, but also of other parties who seem to be deliberately overlooking an important fact: the German state has more in common with the organizers of Eritrean cultural events than with their opponents. The police were accepted as stewards around the festival, even asked for help where festival-goers wanted to get from their hotels to the fair. The attackers and festival opponents, on the other hand, neither respected the law enforcement nor the law at all. The trade fair operator still sees himself in a quandary: the city of Gießen demands that he no longer rent to the Central Council of Eritreans, but there are apparently no arguments for this position. The Hessenhallen are required to be rented “non-discriminatory”.
The “Rage of the Fleeing Men”
In the daily newspaper close to the Greens, the aforementioned Marina Mai – not exactly a frequent writer in the paper – wrote on July 10 that the excesses of violence in Gießen were “inexcusable”, but the “anger of the … escaped men” was very understandable . They “went through the hell of Eritrea and Libya,” it continues, in the best refugee mercenary style. According to official statistics, around 36,000 Eritreans live in Sweden. They make up around four percent of the country’s non-Swedish population of 865,000, which is around eight percent of the Swedish population. In Germany there should be 80,000 Eritreans.
Perhaps half of these “Eritreans” could not be from Eritrea at all… There have been considerable doubts about the identity and origin of these people since 2015. The former Austrian ambassador in Eritrea, Andreas Melan, explained even before the great migration crisis (first act) that thousands of Ethiopians in Europe pretended to be “Eritreans” in order to have better chances of refugee protection. 30 to 40 percent of the “Eritreans” in the EU are actually Ethiopians. This is another element in the chapter on asylum fraud in the EU. You may remember the girl killer from Illerkirchberg, who wanted to marry a woman in Ethiopia.
The other Eritreans – those celebrating peacefully – also came to Germany, Sweden, Italy or the Netherlands as asylum seekers at some point. Back then, long before the year 2000, the asylum procedures were much stricter. It was still about proof of political persecution. In addition, most of those who came back then are now economically well integrated and, above all, live here free of violence.
The fact remains: the current hyper-identification of certain German milieus with “the refugee” is probably at the root of the Gießen misconduct. The Green Party and those around it are known for such emphasis on the world’s persecuted, which they also seek to turn into domestic political currency. This is becoming increasingly difficult in view of the real problems surrounding the accommodation and “integration” of immigrants.
In the case of the internationally organized, extremely violent Eritrean or perhaps Tigray fighters, which this text is about, the Greens failed most obviously. Anyone who wants to ban a peaceful festival with the argument of violent “counter-demonstrators” is only pointing to one thing: the failure of their own (green) image of the poor victim-refugee, which no longer applies where someone tries to break German law with threats and violence .
[This article is google translated from this article https://www-tichyseinblick-de.translate.goog/kolumnen/aus-aller-welt/giessen-eritrea-festival-gruener-grothe/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en]